


and they call it puppy love

by beamtime



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Humor, M/M, Puppies, Romance, a christmas fairy tale, i love dogs i've always loved dogs, when you remember that you forgot a key tag that you must add
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25620493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beamtime/pseuds/beamtime
Summary: When Mark finds a dog that looks like Lucas at the same time that the real Lucas goes missing, he has to confront the truth and a little holiday spirit.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 6
Kudos: 109





	and they call it puppy love

**Author's Note:**

> warnings/enticements: puppies.

Donghyuck groans when he sees Mark come out of his room. "Not that sweater again!"

"What? It's festive," Mark says, defensive. It's fresh out of the dryer, soft and warm. Mark is always surprised that there aren't more people doing their laundry during reading period, but that just means more machines for him to use. He was even able to wash his bed sheets and clean his room (including the mysterious green growth in the tupperware at the back of his mini fridge) before Donghyuck arrived to drag him to the As-Am House's annual winter party.

"Yeah," Donghyuck says, eyes wide and shining with false holiday cheer. "For Halloween. It's _orange_."

Mark frowns, tugging on the open edges of his coat and zipping it up over his sweater. "The tag said it was russet."

"You look like an orange," Donghyuck says. "A rotting orange," he amends when Mark pushes him off the sidewalk. "And you only wear that sweater when you're in full-on God of Study mode."

Mark thinks back on his clothes for the past few weeks. It takes a while to recall; he doesn't usually think about his wardrobe too much. "But I wear this all the time," he concludes, bemused.

If Donghyuck rolled his eyes any harder, he'd strain something. "Like I said," he says, drawing out the syllables. Mark pushes him off the sidewalk again.

🐾🐾🐾

The As-Am House is on the other side of campus, which gives Donghyuck ample time to get his revenge. By the time they've turned the corner onto the last block, Donghyuck has gone through his ninety-five theses critiquing Mark's person, his fashion sense (or lack thereof), and his dismal social life. Mark mostly tunes him out; it's a speech that Donghyuck has developed and refined over the years in Mark's presence (and occasionally with Mark's input) since they first shared the same desk as pre-schoolers forced to attend weekend Korean school in middle-class suburbia. Now that they're at the same college and Mark is Donghyuck's KASA Big Sib (for all his teasing, Donghyuck had rejected the notion of being paired up with anyone else), Donghyuck has shown Mark exactly the same amount of respect and deference as he ever has, which is none at all.

"I can't believe you were thinking of not coming tonight," Donghyuck closes out his monologue. "You helped _plan_ this party."

"Not really," Mark protests. He had just offered to help with some decorations when he ran into Mina and Sejeong looking frazzled with a box of art supplies. Mark's not on the House board with them again this year, but he likes to help when he can.

"You're a good boy," Donghyuck says, patting Mark's butt as if he isn't a full year younger. Mark bats at Donghyuck's hand as they make their way inside, tossing their coats over a chair in the makeshift coat room. "You're going to make someone very happy one day."

It's unfortunate timing that Mark spies Lucas's broad shoulders at that exact same moment. Mark whips around to follow a still chattering Donghyuck down the hall, heart thudding in his chest as heat. He needs something to drink, something to cool down the heat rising to his cheeks. There are too many people in the room and Mark gets stopped more than a few times by familiar faces as he tries to hurry through to the House's kitchenette.

Lucas must have caught sight of them though because he calls out to Mark, voice carrying over the crowd. He catches up to them just a few minutes later, broad shoulders easily parting through the crush of people waiting for the makeshift bar. Donghyuck and Mark had only fared so well because Donghyuck's roommate Jeno had held a spot for them.

"Mark!" Lucas says again, beaming, when he reaches them.

"Hey," Mark says, waving at Lucas with both hands. Donghyuck yelps when one of the ends of Mark's sleeves hits him in the face.

Lucas smiles, broad and warm just like his shoulders which Mark has been trying to ignore for the last seven months. "Cute sweater," Lucas says and Donghyuck sputters indignantly. One of Jeno's intramural soccer friends, Jaemin, twists his neck around to watch the scene unfold with prurient interest. Flushing, Mark rolls up his sleeves to a more acceptable length for human interaction and tries to ignore Jaemin's laser stare.

"Thanks," he says. "It's russet."

"Oh my god, I need a drink," Donghyuck groans. He sneaks his way to the front and intercepts a solo cup full of foamy, cream-colored liquid before it can reach Jaemin's waiting hands.

"How've you been?" Lucas edges into the empty space that Donghyuck has left behind in the queue. He has to step in closer to Mark when someone pushes from behind, knocking into his broad shoulders, and Mark almost leaves the question hanging unanswered in the two excruciating centimeters separating their bodies.

"Oh, great!" Mark answers in a rush, managing to shake himself out of his stupor. "I've been good. Waiting for classes to end, you know, haha."

"Any fun vacation plans?" Lucas asks.

Mark thinks back to the color-coded reading schedule that he's mapped out for the three weeks of winter vacation in his planner, a generic black leather-bound notebook from the school bookstore. Donghyuck's tried to force Mark into the digital age, but Mark is attached to his notebook. Plus, he can't figure out how to edit events in the G-cal app.

"Just, uh, hanging around," is what he tells Lucas.

Lucas nods like Mark has said something profound and hands Mark a cup of eggnog to match his own before leading them to a quiet corner. Their hands brush against each other like they're characters in one of his mom's favorite morning dramas and Mark wonders what it might feel like to have those hands more firmly on him. He gulps down his eggnog to erase that thought from his mind.

"How are your classes going?" Lucas asks again, voice gravelly and encouraging.

Mark coughs as he tries to overcome the overwhelming taste of Peppermint Schnapps hitting the back of his throat. "I've still got music theory — we're still meeting during reading period — and I've got this paper for the folk-myth class that I'm taking this semester."

"I heard about that course, it sounds cool." Mark wonders for a brief frantic moment, _from who?_ It's an upper-level seminar cross-listed in the Folklore/Mythology, Anthropology, and Literature departments. There are exactly five students in it, including Mark, and he's the only sophomore. "What are you writing about?" Lucas asks. He leans in even closer to Mark as Johnny, a grad student moonlighting as the DJ in a Fair Isle Christmas sweater and giant Beats headphones, boosts the bass when the KASA president walks by in sparkly holiday heels.

"Oh, um." Mark takes a deep gulp of eggnog to fortify himself and tucks his hair behind his ear. "It's about tales of transformation and, like, implications on gender and agency."

"That sounds super interesting," Lucas says, still so warm and encouraging that Mark wants to fling himself into the molten center of the earth, or at least into the devil's eggnog that the bartender Jungwoo has mixed. "What sources are you using?"

Mark is saved from his own uncontrollable impulse to teach Lucas about the details of folklore classification by a piercing shriek.

"Mistletoe!" Johnny yells, drunk off the extra-strength eggnog and the KASA secretary Doyoung's attention. Mark realizes with alarm that despite Johnny's currently tenuous relationship with the earth's gravity, his hand is pointing with undeniable accuracy at the sprig of greenery above Lucas and Mark's heads.

Lucas sneaks a glance at Mark, ears pink. "They're just messing around," he says, quiet enough that only Mark can hear. His breath tickles against Mark's cheek, private and almost intimate. "You don't have to, if you don't want to."

It's the perfect out and Lucas is right that Johnny's attention has already been half-stolen by the intense and possibly explicit game of pictionary occurring in the next room. The problem is that Mark _does_ want.

Mark blames the dizzying warmth of the room for what he does next, rising up on his tiptoes to press his mouth clumsily against Lucas's cheek. It's slightly sticky and Mark instinctively flicks his tongue out to taste something sharp and sweet on Lucas's skin before rocking back on his heels. Mark's socks slide against the wood-paneled floor and Lucas's hands fly up to his sides to steady him, which feels even nicer than Mark had imagined and only brings their bodies even closer together. Someone wolf whistles in the background, but Mark can barely hear it over his own thundering heartbeat. The sudden noise seems to shake Lucas out of his daze though and he immediately lets go, eyes wide. For once, Mark feels his latent sense of self-preservation kick into gear.

"Merry Christmas," he says before stepping back and pivoting sharply on his heel. He thinks he hears Lucas call out his name, but he doesn't wait to find out, slipping through a boisterous crowd of seniors before he can find out for sure.

"Where have you been?" asks Donghyuck when Mark finally finds him in the kitchen topping off a row of solo cups with Dr. Pepper. "You guys missed Jungwoo and Jaehyun's _Titanic_ reenactment. Jaehyun even unbuttoned his shirt." There's a ridiculous leer on Donghyuck's face but Mark can't even muster a weak grin.

"I think I'm going to head out now," Mark says, cold settling into his stomach like a stone.

"Huh? Weren't you with Lucas? Mark!"

Ignoring Donghyuck's cries to wait, Mark stumbles out of the As-Am House as quickly as he can, the faint strains of an EDM remix of "All I Want for Christmas is You" chasing after him in mocking refrain.

🐾🐾🐾

It's already dark when Mark emerges from the bowels of the library, vision blurring on the edges from staring at his laptop for too long. He'd woken up that morning to the sound of his alarm ringing and to the flickering memory of the look of surprise on Lucas's face from the night before. It had taken all his willpower to roll out of bed and out of last night's clothes, balling up his sweater and shoving it to the bottom of his laundry basket, but he'd made it to the stacks somehow and buried himself in his books. Ten hours of typing and two Starbucks runs later, he's made decent headway on his paper and his embarrassment has settled into a dull, twisting ache in his stomach — so perhaps it hasn't settled at all.

Lost in thought, Mark is two blocks away from his dorm when he hears whimpering and then a low whining sound. He pauses to look around at the street. There's no one else around. Mark is ready to dismiss it as a figment of his imagination, but the whining starts again when he takes another step. Creeping to the side of the road, Mark shines his phone flashlight into the bushes.

Hidden in the gloom is a dog.

"Hey there," Mark says, holding out his open palm. The dog sniffs, nose cold and wet against Mark's skin. Mark holds still for a few breathless moments until the dog is completely out of the shrubbery, tongue tentatively flicking up against Mark's fingers. It's fairly small, with short legs that skitter against the pavement as it chases Mark's hand. "What are you doing out here in the cold?" Mark wonders aloud, scritching its chin. He can't find a collar or any sign of where the dog might have come from.

Mark has a deadline on a paper and two finals coming up next week. He doesn't have time to take care of a dog. He barely has time to take care of himself, he thinks, all too aware that he's been subsisting off a steady diet of caffeine and fruit loops for the past few days, with last night's spiked eggnog as the even more regrettable outlier.

The puppy pushes its head up against Mark's hand, eyes big and dark and wet. "Don't — don't look at me like that," he says, as sternly as he can. His voice sounds weak even to his own ears and he sighs, taking off his scarf and holding his arms out to the puppy who leaps at him. He is definitely going to regret this in the morning, but for now the wriggling bundle in his arms is a welcome distraction.

🐾🐾🐾

When Mark climbs the final flight of stairs to his floor, he finds Donghyuck outside of his door wearing an obnoxiously large pair of neon sunglasses, hand poised for the world's most delicate knock.

"Nice timing," Donghyuck rasps. "We were gonna order some breakfast. Want anything?"

"It's nine," Mark says, slow and meaningful. "In the evening."

Donghyuck shrugs, waving away Mark's concerns. "Yeah, so like brunchtime. Are you getting anything or what?"

"I want pineapple on my pizza," Jaemin calls out from inside Donghyuck and Jeno's room.

"You don't even live here!" Donghyuck yells back instinctively and then winces, holding his head.

Mark hitches his backpack strap higher up his shoulder and tries to angle his body away from Donghyuck as he unlocks his door. Unfortunately, Donghyuck has a radar for trouble, and it's particularly sensitive when he's around Mark.

"Wait a minute…" Donghyuck pulls his sunglasses down, mouth falling open as he peers into the squirming bundle under Mark's arm. "Is that a dog?" he shrieks. Mark slaps his hand over Donghyuck's mouth and tries to rush all three of them — Donghyuck, the puppy, and himself — into his room, but the damage is already done.

Jeno and Jaemin come tumbling out of their room, hair suspiciously mussed and faces flushed. "Did someone say dog?"

"Does it have a name?"

"Are you keeping it?"

Mark tries to handle their questions one at a time. "I don't know, he didn't have a collar on him when I found him. And no, we can't keep pets in the dorms!"

Donghyuck ignores him, pounding his fist into his open palm. "I've got it! Lucas!"

Mark sputters, grip loosening with surprise. "We're not calling him that!" The puppy jumps out of his arms and wags his tail traitorously at Donghyuck.

"But he likes it so much, don't you, Lucas," Jaemin coos, bending down to make kissy faces at the puppy's face. The puppy pants and licks his cheek to Jaemin's obvious delight.

"It's a dog!" Mark protests. "It'd be happy no matter what you call it."

Jaemin hums skeptically from where he's using both hands to rub the puppy's belly.

"What about, um, Bear?" Mark tries, desperately. Jaemin pauses in his ministrations to wrinkle his nose. "Right, dumb idea," Mark mutters, but everyone's focus has returned to the puppy, who opens his mouth in a wide yawn and squirms until Jaemin continues. Donghyuck knocks his shoulder into Jaemin's arm to join in the petting.

"Anyway," Mark says, raising his voice in a desperate bid to regain control over his life. "It doesn't matter because I'm taking him to the shelter tomorrow."

Jaemin gasps. His hands turn the puppy's head to face Mark as well, tongue lolling out innocently. Mark can feel his resolve crumble.

"I guess we can keep him for a couple days," he says. "Just until we figure out what to do with him."

"Did you hear that, Lucas?" Donghyuck sings to the puppy. "We're keeping you!"

"It's not permanent!" Mark warns. "And in the meantime we're putting up posters to see if anyone's missing him."

They fetch a spare bowl from Donghyuck and Jeno's room to use as a water dish and lay down a couple of Mark's spare towels on the floor as a makeshift bed. The boys crowd around the puppy until he starts making soft sleepy snuffling noises and Mark finally chases them out of his room.

"It's bedtime," he says. "For all of us." He gives his best ' _I'm a responsible upperclassman who should be looking out for you all_ ' face. For once it works and the three slink out after a series of extravagant good night kisses to the puppy (and attempted good night kisses to Mark's cheek on Donghyuck's part; Mark blocks those with an experienced hand).

Alone, Mark has to admit that the puppy does remind him a bit — just a bit! — of Lucas. It's the soft, rich brown color of his fur, he thinks, before he buries his face into his pillow and stops thinking at all.

🐾🐾🐾

Mark is pulled out of sleep the next morning by loud knocking on his door. He tries to ignore it at first, burrowing deeper into his blankets, but whoever is outside is persistent.

"Coming," he finally yells, feeling for his glasses on his side table. When his hands meet fur along the way instead, Mark's eyes fly open to meet curious dark eyes and a velvety soft nose peeking over the side of his mattress.

Panicked, Mark tumbles out of bed. He finds the puppy's rumpled towel on the floor and wraps it around the puppy before hiding him behind his crumpled duvet.

"You gotta stay quiet," he whispers to the puppy before going to open the door. "Good morning — oh, it's just you guys." Mark sags against the doorframe with relief.

" _Just you guys_?" Donghyuck repeats, offended. Ignoring his indignant cries, Jeno and Jaemin rush to Mark's bed where the puppy has already poked his head out from the blankets. Cleaning the smudges on his glasses with the hem of his t-shirt, Mark hovers at the edge of the whirlwind that has invaded his bedroom.

"Uh, guys?" Mark says. "What's going on?"

"We need to take photos for Lucas' posters," Jeno reminds him. It makes sense but…

Mark squints at the bright flash of light from Donghyuck's phone. "What's all this for?" He gestures at the tinsel draped across his shoulders and the red Santa Claus hat perched on the puppy's head.

"For the posters, duh," Donghyuck says. "We need to grab people's attention!" He'd taken Intro to Photography for one whole day before dropping it because he didn't have the patience to wait in the dark room. Johnny, who had been TA-ing the beginner's course that semester, had been heartbroken but had comforted himself with the knowledge that Donghyuck had at least left with a new visual vocabulary. Donghyuck tilts his head, holding up his hand to frame the composition of his next shot. "Now look this way for the camera."

Donghyuck's modern reinterpretation of 'Madonna and Child' is interrupted by a knock on the door, but he continues to snap away with Jaemin hovering over his shoulder. Jeno dutifully answers it instead, stepping aside to let in Renjun.

"Hey, are we studying in Mark's room today?" Renjun asks, caught up in unwinding his scarf. Mark attempts to hold back the puppy but it's a lost cause. He leaps forward and forces Renjun to fall backward, unprepared for the sudden onslaught of puppy kisses. " _What_ is _that_?"

Jaemin beams. "Say hello to our new roommate Lucas," he says, lifting the puppy to wave one of his front paws at Renjun's slack face.

" _Our_?" Donghyuck squawks. "You don't live here!" Jaemin sticks out his tongue and Donghyuck tackles him, letting the puppy loose again. Renjun's eyebrow twitches dangerously.

Fifteen minutes later, Mark has the puppy held tightly in his lap while he explains the situation to Renjun with frequent editorializing from the others. Renjun's reaction is about as expected.

"We can't keep a dog here," Renjun hisses when Mark finishes. He looks over his shoulder at the door as if he expects the dean to burst in at any moment.

"You're so cold!" Donghyuck says in his most obnoxious whine. "Where is your Christmas spirit, Injunnie?"

Renjun's lips press together into a flat, unamused line. "I'm an atheist," he says. Donghyuck snickers and Renjun pointedly ignores him.

"This is man's best friend," Jeno tries while Jaemin flutters his eyelashes winsomely beside him.

"At this point," Renjun says between gritted teeth, "I'm debating having no friends at all."

Mark pauses in his absent-minded petting to look at Renjun with concern. "Uh, dude, that's kind of intense. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Renjun opens his mouth to respond, but he's interrupted by the puppy yawning in a soft snuffling whine, tongue curling up against his small teeth.

"Stop that," Renjun tells the puppy, scolding him in a voice that he usually reserves for Donghyuck. The puppy blinks and yawns again.

"That's so adorable," Jaemin gushes. Even Renjun looks swayed by the display of undeniable cuteness.

"Fine!" he says, throwing his hands up in the air. Donghyuck cheers and reaches out to pinch Renjun's cheek.

"Shouldn't we go shopping for pet supplies?" Jeno asks, skillfully ducking around Donghyuck and Renjun's extemporaneous tickle fight to scritch the puppy's chin. Mark remembers that Jeno had written in his housing application that he has cats at home. Mark also remembers with sudden clarity that the one time his own parents had let him own a pet, he had been five-years-old and so traumatized when his guppies had cannibalized their young that no animal had graced the halls of the Lee residence again.

"What do we need?" he asks with a creeping sense of foreboding.

🐾🐾🐾

After a series of panicked texts to Taeyong and a follow-up phone call from the nearest pet store, Mark finds himself the proud owner of a neon green dog collar with _LUCAS_ inscribed on the attached bone-shaped tag. He's also printed off a stack of flyers with a photo of Lucas in the too big Santa hat draped over his ears. Donghyuck had been adamant that this one was the money shot.

"Let's go for a walk, boy," Mark murmurs to Lucas, clipping the leash to his collar and slipping a finger under the band to make sure it's not too tight. Lucas barks in response, paws skittering down the stairs and across the pavement as he tugs Mark out their dorm.

After Mark puts up his last flyer on the bulletin board by the campus chapel (and frantically disposes of the evidence of Lucas's puppy poop in front of God's doorstep), he leads Lucas to the courtyard behind the chemistry lab building. He figures anyone going to the science quad will be too busy to pay attention to them at this time of the semester.

"Just a little bit," he tells Lucas who wriggles around in a small pile of dried leaves. Mark lets out a longer length of the leash and lies back into the grass with the handle loosely looped in his hand. The empty courtyard is quiet and not too cold outside. There hasn't even been any snow this year. It's nice to get some fresh air, Mark thinks to himself, eyes falling closed.

He's so comfortable that he almost misses the shift in Lucas's body, muscles tensing. Mark cracks one eye open, but it's too late.

"Oh shit — Lucas! Come back!" Mark scrambles to his feet to chase after Lucas and trips over a break in the sidewalk. He manages to catch his balance, but the moment of distraction is all Lucas needs to escape, leash fluttering behind him. Mark watches in horror as Lucas leaps forward and knocks over an innocent bystander sitting on one of the benches further along the path.

Mark tries to pull Lucas away without using too much force. "Don't — c'mon, buddy, let go." Lucas huffs, looking decidedly petulant.

"It's fine," the boy laughs, bending down to pet Lucas. "Mark, right?" Mark blinks in recognition at the familiar face. Guanheng has fine, delicate features that radiate natural friendliness whenever Mark has seen him with Lucas. Today is no exception, even though it's the two of them.

"It's been a while," Mark says, crouching down to pat Lucas's back. "How have you been, dude?"

"Oh, not bad," Guanheng says, giggling as he turns his mouth away from Lucas's enthusiastic puppy kisses. "Just the usual reading period blues, but dogs definitely make everything better." He makes a face at the book abandoned by his side and Mark nods in sympathy, rocking back onto his heels when Guanheng pats his thighs and lets Lucas put his front paws onto his lap.

"Lucas never mentioned that you had a dog," Guanheng says, scratching the back of Lucas's neck. "What's your name?" he coos, flapping Lucas's ears back and forth, and Mark coughs.

"It's — it's Lucas," he answers, ears growing hot. Guanheng looks up with obvious surprise written on his face, and Mark tries to shrug as nonchalantly as possible. "I only found him a couple days ago, but some of my friends thought he looked kind of like Lucas so…" His voice fades away, embarrassed.

"Oh." Guanheng rubs his chin, thoughtful. "That makes sense since Lucas has been gone since Friday… he wouldn't have known."

"Gone?" Mark repeats, throat dry.

"It's not the first time he's gone somewhere without telling anyone," Guanheng airily explains. "Once, he was missing for three days and when he came back he had, like, twenty buckets of chicken tenders and a traffic cone with him."

It had been twenty-five buckets, but Lucas had run into Mark and Mina on their way to an As-Am House board meeting and had given them five. Mark bites his lip at the memory of Lucas offering a bite of a chicken tender to Mark straight out of his hand. Mark had been too embarrassed at the time to take it, and it's one of his top five lifetime regrets. Or at least, it had been until The Mistletoe Incident at this year's KASA holiday party shot to the top of that list, taking up residence in spots one through five. Mark had initially called it The Kiss in his head, but that put too much emphasis on all the things that Mark was trying to obliterate from his brain's internal theater (exhibits A through Z: the softness of Lucas's skin). Guanheng must notice Mark's inner angst because he reaches out to pat Mark's shoulder in reassurance.

"He'll be back in time for exams," Guanheng says, confident. "I know it doesn't look like it to some people, but he's a dedicated guy."

Mark smiles at that despite his lingering worry. He's seen Lucas hard at work in the library late at night, dark eyes focused and serious. Of course, Mark had learned later that Lucas had been pulling an all-nighter on a procrastinated midterm essay, but it had been what caught Mark's eye about Lucas in the first place. That and the hot chocolate that Lucas had smuggled in for them the last two people hiding out in the stacks that night.

"Huh, they really do look alike," Guanheng muses, picking up Lucas to examine his face more closely. Lucas pants happily, tail wagging in the air so cutely that Mark is forced to agree.

🐾🐾🐾

The first time Mark had met Lucas was well into freshman year, when Mark had finally felt like he had handle on things. He'd always liked to keep busy in high school and college was no different, his planner filled with club meetings and study groups and assignments for the five courses he'd signed up for because there was just so much to _do_.

Then he lost his planner.

" _Are you sure you checked everywhere? Maybe it's in your bag and you just missed it,_ " Donghyuck suggested. Mark could hear him slurping on something through the phone.

"It's not, I've looked like four times," Mark hissed, keeping his voice low. It was late and the library was probably empty except for the ghosts of some pre-med students, but Mark didn't want to disturb them.

" _Mark — slurp — this is why — slurp — I keep telling you need to switch to G-cal — sluuuurp,_ " was Donghyuck's less than sympathetic response. 

"It doesn't feel the same," Mark answered on reflex, crawling along the floor between _Literature - Rhetoric & Collections_ and _English Drama_. Focused on his search, he didn't notice that someone was approaching him until he came face to face with a pair of shoes, then crouched knees, then a pair of big dark eyes peering at him through a soft fringe of hair poking out from under a faded varsity hoodie.

"Oh my god," Mark yelped, dropping his phone.

" _Mark? Mark?_ " The slurping from Donghyuck's end of the line stopped.

"Mark Lee?" said Lucas, although Mark hadn't know that was his name then. "Is this yours?" He picked up Mark's phone and held it out on top of a familiar leatherbound notebook that Mark knew without a doubt had _Mark Lee,_ _mmhlee@gmail.com_ written in the top left-hand corner of the inside cover.

"Oh my god, yeah, _yes_." His hands shook with relief as he clutched at his notebook, thumb slipping over his phone screen and sending his call with Donghyuck into the void.

"Should you call them back?" Lucas asked after a beat, watching Mark slip his phone into his back pocket.

"Nah it's cool," Mark reassured Lucas who raised his eyebrow. "He won't care."

"Want to get off the floor?" Lucas asked, polite, although Mark could still see the glimmer of amusement in his eyes. It made Mark feel warm, but in a good way, heat curling down his spine as he took Lucas's outstretched hand and straightened up.

"Thanks! For helping me up. And for finding my planner!"

"No problem," said Lucas. His hand had pretty much eclipsed Mark's during that brief moment of touch. Mark could feel the phantom pressure against his skin, gentle, the roughness of a callused palm against his own.

The library lights started dimming overhead and Mark jumped. "I guess it's time to go," he said, sheepish. Lucas nodded his agreement and let Mark lead the way, long legs falling into step with Mark's shorter stride.

"How'd you know it was mine?" Mark asked, peeking sideways at Lucas.

Lucas smiled, one of his cheeks dimpling. "Every time I have to come to the library you're always here. You're pretty memorable."

"Oh, um." Mark scratched the back of his neck which suddenly felt hot and itchy.

"And I may have asked Ten about it."

Mark wasn't sure if by 'it,' Lucas meant the planner specifically or about his existence in general. "You're friends with Ten?"

"Yeah, we're in the same Chinese class and since we live in the same building we're usually conversation partners."

Mark had been to Ten's apartment pretty often considering that it was off-campus, usually for snacks and for intense mothering sessions from Ten's boyfriend who happened to be his KASA Big Sib.

"Dude, how have we never seen each other before?"

"I don't know," Lucas said, smile turning crooked and cheek dimpling. "Every time I go to a party, Ten says you've just left. I was beginning to think he made you up."

Mark didn't think Ten had ever mentioned someone like Lucas — taller and broader than any of their other mutual friends — to him, or that Ten had wanted to introduce them to each other, but… "Sorry, um. What's your name?"

Lucas let out a bark of laughter, tossing his head back. "Lucas, Lucas Wong."

Mark turned the name around in his head, tucking it away in his mental file cabinet along with Lucas's bright eyes and steady hands. Engrossed in thought, he jumped when his stomach emitted a loud alien grumble. "Oh my god," Mark said again, mortified.

"Do you want to grab some food?"

They stop by the noodle shop a couple blocks down from the library. It was in the opposite direction of Mark's dorm so he'd never been down that way even though it was already March and he was no stranger to late nights in the stacks. Lucas didn't even seem to judge Mark for it, or look like he thought Mark was boring.

"You're gonna love it," was all Lucas said, excited. "The dumplings here are the best!"

The dumplings were amazing, Mark agreed half an hour later, with a spicy vinegary sauce that sent tingling shocks across Mark's tastebuds.

"Thanks for the meal," Mark said after they finished. Lucas had slipped his card to the waitress before Mark had even realized the check had arrived, winking at Mark. _My treat_ , Lucas had claimed, _since I got to pick the food_. "Um… I'll pay for dinner next time?"

"Cool!" Lucas said, looking a little rosy under the warm glow of the streetlight outside of Mark's dorm. "Don't forget this again," Lucas said, waving Mark's planner at him. Mark blinked.

"Oh my god! Sorry, I'm not usually this bad."

"It's okay," Lucas said, and for once those words actually calmed Mark down. He waved goodbye to Lucas with his planner back in hand before trudging his way up to his room.

It was only when he was getting ready for bed that Mark realized he hadn't even gotten Lucas's number.

He flipped his planner open to leave himself a note (he could probably ask Ten for it? or even go on Facebook and slide into Lucas's DMs, a voice that sounded eerily like Donghyuck said in his head) and stared. Under March 25th, where Mark had written his reading assignments for _ENGL 130 English Romantic Poetry_ , was a picture of possibly a dumpling (it was round with little wrinkles on the top) and a phone number.

Something in Mark's chest fluttered. "Lucas Wong," he whispered to himself as he typed into his phone, clicking _Save to contacts_.

That was seven months ago and things had been going perfectly fine — until Mark had to go and ruin everything at the holiday party this year.

🐾🐾🐾

With puppy Lucas's arrival, Donghyuck and the other freshmen have taken to studying as a group in Mark's room, which means that Mark has had even less privacy than usual. It's cramped with four (or five, when Renjun decides he's willing to be an accessory to their canine rule-breaking) people and all their study materials piled into Mark's single, plus a curious little puppy.

To Donghyuck and Jaemin's chagrin, Lucas likes cuddling with Mark best.

"By the way, has anyone seen Lucas lately?" Mark remembers to ask as he's looking through some last minute sources that have finally arrived via interlibrary loan. Donghyuck and Jaemin share a pointed look at Mark's feet which are currently being warmed by about seven-and-a-half pounds of dog, and Mark realizes his mistake. "Not this Lucas! I ran into Guanheng and he says that Lucas — human Lucas — hasn't been around since Friday."

Frowning, Renjun taps his chin. "I haven't heard anything…" he finally answers, the wrinkle in his forehead deepening. None of the others have seen or heard from Lucas since the party, and Mark's stomach churns as Jaemin checks his instagram feed and shakes his head. There's been no response to the texts that Mark had sent on the way back from his walk either.

The rest of their study session devolves into speculation as to where Lucas might have disappeared.

"Aliens," Donghyuck suggests, poking at Renjun. "Return of the body-snatchers."

Renjun narrows his eyes at the obvious baiting and sniffs, ignoring the high-five that Jaemin gives Donghyuck from across the table.

Meanwhile, Jeno toys with puppy Lucas's tail, moving it side to side with the end of his pen. "It's kind of funny that our Lucas showed up just as human Lucas disappeared."

Donghyuck snorts, still bent over his calculus textbook. "How is that even remotely funny, Jeno, do we need to go over how jokes work again…" He trails off suddenly, jaw slack.

Renjun's pencil slips out of his fingers and rolls onto the floor with a clatter as he catches onto the thread of Donghyuck's thought. Lucas raises his head at the noise and Renjun watches Lucas pounce on it with a worrying gleam in his eyes.

Picking up Renjun's pencil before Lucas can chew on it, Mark replaces it with the bunny toy that Lucas likes. "Uh, guys?" he says. Renjun takes his pencil back with his eyes still locked on Lucas.

"What if…" Donghyuck says, clutching at Renjun's hand. For once, Renjun doesn't immediately push him away.

"What if our Lucas is human Lucas? What if human Lucas is puppy Lucas?" Renjun's voice trembles with excitement.

Mark wonders if he's in a dream and if he's going to wake up any moment crashing onto the floor tangled up in his duvet (it's happened before). "Humans can't turn into dogs," he says, voice faint, when it becomes clear that no one else is going to point out the obvious flaw in Renjun's reasoning.

"That's what you think," Renjun answers grimly, which doesn't do anything for Mark's growing sense of alarm. Jeno merely shrugs at Mark while Jaemin nods along, considering, as if Renjun and Donghyuck are the sensible ones here.

"C'mon, guys. Seriously?"

"Mark," Jaemin says, grabbing Mark's shoulders and looking intently into his face. "Have you ever seen puppy Lucas and human Lucas in the same room together?"

"That's not —" Mark tries to find his words. " _It's a dog_ ," he finally settles on.

"Mark," Jaemin repeats urgently while Donghyuck lifts up Lucas like baby Simba so that Renjun can examine him, and Mark decides enough is enough.

"Alright, everyone out." He rescues Lucas from Donghyuck's clutches and holds the door open for the others to trail out of his room again with their tails between their legs, so to speak.

"Don't be like that," Mark tells Lucas when Lucas barks at him in what sounds like a reproachful note. "I'm trying to do what's best for you." He pushes down the uneasy feeling lingering in his stomach and gets back to his collection of Norwegian fairy tales.

🐾🐾🐾

Mark still hasn't heard anything in response to his posters besides a couple of obvious crank calls. He checks his phone regularly throughout the day though, even when he's in his intro to music theory class (still marked into Mark's agenda because it's his only class that's meeting even during reading period) and he has to leave Lucas with Donghyuck, Jeno, or Jaemin.

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he immediately sneaks a look at the screen under the table. It's just a message from Jaemin… He's about to swipe the notification away with his thumb when a flash of fear strikes him. What if something's happened to Lucas?

Mark's fingers fly across his screen to unlock his phone, only to bring up a picture of Lucas tugging on the ear of his bunny toy.

 _Lucas playing with his new friend (´ ∀ ` *)_ , Jaemin's text reads. The corner of Mark's mouth tugs up reluctantly at the attached image of Lucas biting and pawing at the bunny plush that Mark had added to his shopping basket at the last minute.

What follows throughout the next hour is an endless series of messages while Mark is in class. Mark ends up silencing his phone completely when the girl three seats away from him starts shooting him judgmental looks every time his backpack vibrates.

The last message Mark receives as he's about to walk up the stairs back to his room is of Lucas curled up in his little dog bed with some sort of blanket or soft cloth tucked underneath his front paws.

"Dude, I told you to text me if anything important came up," Mark says to Jaemin.

"It was important," Jaemin insists. "Cute puppies are always important." He looks to Jeno for agreement and beams when Jeno nods. "By the way he loves that sweater, it's like his new favorite thing to cuddle."

Mark gapes when he sees exactly what Lucas has curled up on. "Where did you get that?" he groans. It's the sweater Mark wore to the holiday party, before all this mess with the puppy and human Lucases.

Jeno pats Mark's shoulder comfortingly and Mark leans into it. "I don't know, we went to refill his water bowl and when we turned around he had that with him in his bed," he explains, eyes curving into his perpetual smile. Some of the stress knotted up in Mark's back comes undone at the sight. It's hard for Mark to stay in his funk when both Jeno and Lucas are looking at him with such bright expressions. He even takes out his Android alongside Jaemin's own I-phone to snap a photo of Lucas placing his tiny paw delicately in Jeno's outstretched hand before Jeno and Jaemin leave for office hours.

Finally alone, Mark flops back onto his bed. He casts a sidelong glance at the closed door before pulling Lucas into bed with him and wrangling the sweater away.

"Okay, this definitely needs a wash now." Lucas just looks up at Mark who sighs and tosses the sweater back into the laundry basket. Lucas whines forlornly after it. Feeling a stab of guilt, Mark rubs his belly extra vigorously to make up for it.

"I wonder where he went," Mark wonders aloud between pets. Lucas's tail thumps against the mattress and Mark sighs again. "You're definitely too big to be up here." He doesn't make Lucas get down though and Lucas wriggles against Mark's chest. "He's probably fine," Mark tells himself. Lucas stills, ears cocked, and Mark flushes. "It's not — I'm just showing neighborly concern! Stop looking at me like that!"

Huffing, Lucas flops half on top of Mark, who lets out a strangled, " _Oof_." Mark shouldn't let Lucas stay up on the bed when he has his own bed full of toys, but it's hard to turn down Lucas's puppy eyes.

After the party (and his brain traitorously reminds him, the kiss), Mark had worried about avoiding Lucas, the real Lucas. Now that it's been almost a whole week without him, all Mark wants is to see him again.

"I really need to change your name," Mark says, rueful. When Lucas lifts his head at the sound of his voice, Mark can't help but smile. "I guess that means I'm keeping you."

His parents might need some convincing, but Mark's pretty sure if he enlists Taeyong's help they'll be okay with Mark bringing Lucas home for the holidays at least.

"I was thinking of taking Lucas to the vet today," Mark announces the next morning to Donghyuck and Renjun at breakfast. "He needs to be licensed and get shots and stuff if we're going to keep him."

Donghyuck gasps around a mouthful of home fries. "You can't!"

Mark blinks, confused. He'd thought Donghyuck would be the most pleased to hear that Lucas is here to stay. "Why not?"

"We don't know what that'll do to him," Renjun says, serious. He doesn't even comment on Donghyuck's poor table manners, which is a bad sign. "What if that changes Lucas's body forever?"

"Humans can't turn into dogs," Mark protests desperately.

"Weren't you in a creative writing course?" Donghyuck wrinkles his nose. "How did you handle that without any imagination?"

"That's fiction! This and that have absolutely nothing to do with each other!"

Mark has plenty of imagination. It's what got him into the mess — imagining how Lucas's arms might feel around him or how Lucas's skin might taste, salty and sweet and warm. He can't tell any of that to Donghyuck though.

"Maybe Lucas is special," Donghyuck says into his eggs, mulish. Mark doesn't know if Donghyuck means the human or the puppy, and he's afraid to ask.

During the next couple days, Mark finds himself increasingly on guard against this unexpected attack on his real life. There's no way that Lucas has become a dog. It's ridiculous and impossible.

Puppy Lucas has licked Mark's face too many times to be the real Lucas. Puppy Lucas has slept _in Mark's bed_ too many times to be the real Lucas (Mark knows that he's a pushover as a pet owner). Real human Lucas hadn't been interested in doing either of these things with Mark, the holiday party had been proof enough.

"— Mark? _Mark_!" Yerim waves her hand in front of Mark's face, butter chip between her fingers. "Are you okay?"

Mark jumps out of his chair, scrambling to grab his pencil as it slips out of his hands. There's a jagged scribble of ink scrawled across the open face of his notebook. "I'm good," he says, turning the page over and smoothing his hand across the clean sheet to calm his frazzled nerves. Yerim and Joy look unconvinced from across the library cafe's solid wooden tables.

"Should we reschedule?" Joy asks, munching with concern. Mark shakes his head. There isn't much time before their music theory final and he really needs to get some studying out of the way to focus on his folk/myth paper. He's promised a study session with the freshmen tomorrow, too, before their calc final. Mark squares his shoulders.

"I'm good," he repeats, looking determinedly down at his notebook. Thankfully, Joy and Yerim follow suit.

"Take care of yourself, kiddo," Joy says, ruffling his hair, when they part. Yerim pats his cheek and sends him on his way with the rest of their snacks to share with his wild pack of freshers.

The floor is empty when Mark gets back to his dorm, so he ends up leaving the bag of extra snacks hanging on their door and heading back to his room alone. Puppy Lucas is curled up on Mark's bed again. Mark sighs and lies down next to him, squashing his cheek against Lucas's fur.

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he scrambles to check it. He sighs and flops back again when he sees that it's just a text from Renjun confirming their study session tomorrow. Puppy Lucas noses against Mark's chin as Mark continues to scroll listlessly through his messages. The corner of his mouth tugs up when he finds his last text from Lucas, a jumble of happy emojis in reply to Mark promising to see him at the KASA holiday party. His smile slips as his thumb slides over the timestamp. It's already near the end of reading period and days since Mark had finally summoned the courage to text Lucas, asking where he was without a response. "I'm glad you're here," Mark admits to puppy Lucas in a whisper. Puppy Lucas licks Mark's nose and Mark sets his phone down to scratch behind his ears.

The freshers are still distracted during their study session the next day. Mark tries to keep them focused on the topic of differential equations but it's hard to keep track of the volume of toruses with a cute dog rolling around. Puppy Lucas begins to sniff dangerously close to Renjun's bucket of chicken tenders.

"Can dogs eat chicken tenders?" Jaemin asks, cheek pressed against his calculus textbook as he halfheartedly bats Lucas away from the food.

Donghyuck perks up. "We should ask Siri," he says, already turning to his phone.

"No phones at the study table," Mark reminds them wearily. "And humans can't turn into dogs," he adds for good measure, but it lacks any real spirit at this point.

"When do you think Lucas is coming back?" Jeno asks. Mark feels torn between being grateful that Jeno is at least humoring the _humans can't turn into dogs_ agenda (or reality, Mark tells himself, firmly) and wanting to fling himself out the window at the reminder of Lucas. It's a close call.

"Let's focus for now, guys," Mark says, bringing puppy Lucas back into his lap. "Please?" Lucas curls up into the open front of Mark's hoodie bringing an end to their impromptu study break.

🐾🐾🐾

On Thursday, Mark and Donghyuck sneak Lucas out the building again for a walk. They take Lucas out to the courtyard behind the biology tower.

"Mark!"

Mark and Donghyuck turn in tandem to see Guanheng waving enthusiastically at them from the other end of the quad.

"How have you been, man?" Mark asks, jogging after Lucas who has already raced over to Guanheng's side, licking all over his face with excitement.

"Not bad, not bad." Guanheng scrunches up his face to keep Lucas's tongue away from his mouth. "We're just killing some time." He points behind him and Mark finally notices that Guanheng isn't alone either.

Mark isn't sure why, but Donghyuck always turns quiet when someone mentions Yangyang, cheeks turning ruddy. A quiet Donghyuck is a rare enough occurrence for Mark to make note of Yangyang, even if they haven't exchanged more than a handful of words in passing.

"At least this Lucas seems to be doing okay," Guanheng sighs, kneeling down to pet Lucas.

"This Lucas?" asks Yangyang, starting.

Mark coughs. "His name is Lucas. Like, um, the human Lucas. But not." Although that's not entirely true, Mark doesn't feel like explaining the full embarrassing story again.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the point of view), Donghyuck does it for him, finally finding his tongue again. "It's because he looks like Lucas!"

Squinting, Yangyang leans in to get a closer look. "Oh my god," he says. Lucas, the puppy, sniffs back at him, equally curious.

Something about Guanheng's words from earlier bothers Mark. "You said at least this Lucas is doing okay… Is Lucas back? Did something happen to him?"

"Ah, no… Lucas still hasn't come back and we have our macro econ final in a couple days," Guanheng explains, worry washing over his face.

" _Mark_ ," Donghyuck says, gesturing none too subtly at puppy Lucas tugging at his leash to terrorize a local squirrel. Mark tries to convey the word _no_ and as many exclamation points as possible with his eyebrows to both of them.

"Uh, guys? Everything okay?" Guanheng peers up at Mark in concern. Mark really needs to learn how to do the elegant single eyebrow raise that the KASA president Chungha always uses when Johnny turns up at the undergrad meetings.

Sighing, Mark runs his hand through his hair. "It's nothing serious. I told my friends that Lucas hasn't been around since, um, our Lucas showed up, so they think that Lucas — our Lucas, I mean — is actually human Lucas."

Guanheng blinks. "That's…"

" _That's genius_ ," Yangyang finishes for him, eyes shining. Mark chokes. Donghyuck's cheeks flush a dull red and Mark coughs harder.

🐾🐾🐾

They reconvene in Mark's room with everyone who knows about puppy Lucas's existence.

"Okay, even if this is Lucas — and I'm not saying he is — how would we change him back?" Mark asks with Lucas sitting on his lap again. "It's not like I can keep Lucas, like… like this!" Lucas barks as if on cue.

"Isn't the answer obvious?" Yangyang says, eyes glinting with determination. "True love's first kiss."

Donghyuck cackles. "Pucker up!"

"But —" Mark thinks back to the party and flushes. It's a silly idea and it wouldn't be true love anyway, even if it wouldn't be their first kiss. "Nevermind."

Donghyuck, unfortunately, knows him too well. "But what?" he demands.

"We did at the As-Am House party. I…" Mark looks away from the row of wide eyes surrounding him. "I kissed him."

Donghyuck crows. "I knew it, I knew it, _I told you_ something was up with Mark _before_ Lucas showed up! Puppy Lucas, I mean, of course." He gives Lucas a perfunctory pat on the head and waggles his eyebrows meaningfully at Renjun.

"Not the point," Renjun says, rolling his eyes. "Mark, did you notice anything strange about Lucas that night?"

Mark winces at the memory. "No, he was just… himself." If anything, Mark had been the one acting strangely. "He got us some eggnog and we talked."

"Maybe it was the nog," Jeno suggests. They all consider his suggestion in silence for a moment. The eggnog had contained a truly questionable amount of Peppermint Schnapps.

"But Mark had some, too," Guanheng points out. "Most of us did."

Jaemin strokes his chin like an old sage. "So you talked and then magic eggnog and then you… made out?"

"No!" Mark yelps. "No making out!"

Donghyuck raises his hand to interrupt. "Hold up, hold up — what?"

"Johnny pointed out that there was a mistletoe above us," Mark explains, voice tight with misery and shame. "So I kissed him. On the cheek."

Groaning, Donghyuck tips his head back with his fists clenched in disappointment. "On the cheek? I should have known."

"It has to be the kiss." Yangyang looks around the room and Donghyuck simmers down again. "Right? Like, that's the only thing that stands out about the party."

"Then maybe Mark needs to kiss him to change him back!" Jaemin looks far too excited by that prospect.

"No way," Mark wheezes.

"What could it hurt?" Jeno asks.

Mark glances at puppy Lucas and bites the inside of his cheek. "He didn't even want to kiss me back," he blurts. That's not what he had planned to say at all, but the words are already out there, suspended in the shocked silence that ensues.

"Are you sure?" asks Guanheng, glancing at Yangyang.

"It sounds like you didn't really stick around to find out," Jaemin points out, gently, which makes Mark feel even worse. Mark isn't used to Jaemin being so sensible.

"Maybe you just need a little faith," Renjun suggests. He pulls Lucas out of Mark's lap, holding him up so that they're face to face.

Mark looks into Lucas's eyes. They're still as dark and warm as ever, just like human Lucas's eyes had been. It hadn't taken so much courage as it did questionable eggnog and unknown amounts of alcohol for Mark to kiss Lucas and even then, he hadn't been able to tell Lucas how he really felt.

"So what should I do?"

Donghyuck shrugs. "You're the one studying fairy tales."

"Listen to your heart," Jaemin adds, equally unhelpful.

Mark takes a deep breath. "I… I really admire you," he starts, clearing his throat to steady his voice. Donghyuck groans and someone, probably Renjun, shushes him. "You never show off about it, but I know you work really hard. And you always listen like… like you care, which I know you do but! Like I'm important. And you've shown me so many new things and I… I meant it when I kissed you…" Cheeks burning, Mark presses his lips together to stop the flow of even more embarrassing words. He fights the urge to look away from Lucas's small furry face and waits.

A moment of silence falls over the room while Lucas snuffles at Mark.

"Whoa!" Guanheng jumps when his phone beeps, breaking the spell. The others turn to him in confusion. "Um… Dejun just texted that Lucas is back, party at Ten's place tonight, open invite?" His voice trails off, uncertain.

"Oh." Swallowing roughly, Mark tries to think of something more to say. It's silly. He never really thought that Lucas could have actually turned into a dog. That's stuff out of fairy tales. Only now that Lucas is back, apparently human and well, Mark realizes that there had been some small part of him that had hoped that maybe this was some kind of sign, just like in his stories.

"Maybe… maybe you did bring him back!" Jaemin says, bright and hopeful.

Yangyang chimes in, eyes wide and hands flapping. "Like magic!" It's a kind thought, but Mark knows better.

"I don't think so," he says quietly, taking puppy Lucas back into his arms. Lucas barks, squirming in Mark's tight hold.

"But you're coming to the party, right?" Guanheng asks, a note of alarm ringing in his voice.

"I have to, um, take care of the dog," Mark says. "Take him for a walk."

"But you already took him out on a walk," Jeno says, brow furrowed in confusion. Renjun shushes him. There's something like pity in Renjun's eyes and Mark avoids his gaze.

"You all should go to the party," he says, setting puppy Lucas onto the ground. Puppy Lucas immediately begins winding between Mark's feet, yipping and jumping up to paw at Mark's thighs. Mark takes advantage of the distraction to ignore the mutinous expression on Donghyuck's face and to collect his thoughts, along with Lucas's leash and his keys. "I'll join you all later," he promises. "I just… I just need a moment. Close the door behind you?"

Donghyuck and the others are still sporting expressions ranging from unhappiness to worry, but Mark pushes past them with Lucas in tow as he heads out the door.

🐾🐾🐾

With the wind blowing on his cheeks Mark feels a little calmer, although the cold air causes his eyes to water, stinging. Puppy Lucas, initially excited by this second round of playtime, must pick up on his mood. He starts dancing around Mark's feet, yipping. Distracted, Mark goes crashing into someone, their legs tangled up in Lucas's leash.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" he says, wiping away the wet tracks on his face. When he finally looks up, Mark finds himself looking into Lucas's very dark, very human eyes. Yelping, Mark jumps back and nearly falls back onto puppy Lucas still running around them.

"Careful!" Lucas's arm shoots out to catch Mark, who is almost too bewildered to notice how close this brings them. It's close, extremely, terrifyingly close and if it weren't for the millions of questions racing through Mark's mind, he'd be too caught up in the warm solid heat of Lucas's body to speak.

"What — What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Ten's?" Mark grabs onto puppy Lucas, focusing on wrangling the dog's squirmy limbs while trying to calm his racing heart.

"You weren't there! And I tried to call you, but you didn't pick up so…" Lucas frowns, his full eyebrows drawing down together in concentration while he helps to untangle them.

With a flash of alarm, Mark realizes that his jacket feels suspiciously light. He begins frantically patting down his pockets with one hand, puppy Lucas still wriggling in the crook of his arm. Undoing the last knot, Lucas scrambles to take puppy Lucas from him and Mark stills, gaping. "Oh! Were you… you were looking for me?"

Lucas turns puppy Lucas over to cradle him more comfortably against his chest. "I know it's been a few days, but I wanted to talk to you about the holiday party." For a brief, wild moment, Mark hopes that Lucas's mysterious disappearance was related to a bout of selective amnesia. "About the kiss," Lucas elaborates, dashing Mark's hopes.

"What about it?" Mark asks, voice high and cracking at the end with nervous laughter.

"I was wondering if I could — could I have a do-over? Without the mistletoe. Or the eggnog." Lucas winces. "Or the weird holiday music."

Mark stares. "What?"

Lucas licks his lips, shifting nervously. "I want to kiss you for real this time, if that's okay with you."

"That's… that's definitely okay."

Lucas hesitantly puts his hand up to Mark's cheek and then bends down to brush his mouth gently against Mark's forehead and then past the tip of his nose to his mouth. Mark lets out an embarrassing whimper at the soft touch and Lucas shifts his hand to cup the back of Mark's neck, tilting Mark's head to bring their lips more firmly together. It's amazing and wonderful and still somehow not enough. Mark wants to kiss Lucas forever. Hands clutching against Lucas's coat, Mark pushes up on his tiptoes and licks against the seam of Lucas's mouth, curling his tongue around Lucas's when Lucas lets him in.

"Thanks," Lucas says when he pulls away minutes later, licking his lips and smiling.

Mark blinks, feeling a bit stunned. "No problem," he answers faintly. Lucas's smile grows even bigger and Mark wonders how it's possible for someone to be so bright. "You could even do more?" he asks, his heart pounding in his chest. Lucas swoops in before the words are fully out of his mouth.

It feels like they've been kissing forever when puppy Lucas begins wriggling between them. Mark pulls away reluctantly and they both look down at puppy Lucas before bursting into rueful laughter. "Alright, buddy," Mark says. "Down you go."

As he kneels to set puppy Lucas down, Mark sneaks a look at his human namesake, taking in his long legs and broad chest. Lucas had only been gone for a few days, but the air around him feels different somehow, his stance more sure. Lucas cocks his head to meet Mark's gaze, curious, and Mark hurries back onto his feet.

"Why did you go?" he asks when he stands before he realizes his mistake. "I meant where did you go, not…" Mark bites his lip, unsure of how he even wants to finish that question. His heart feels like it's squeezing tight inside his chest and exploding open at the same time.

Lucas scratches the back of his head. "It's just… I hadn't realized it was an option, so it was kind of a surprise," he admits and Mark's back stiffens. Lucas's eyes widen as he feels Mark tensing beside him. "Hey, no, not like that!" He pulls Mark into his arms and gently takes hold of Mark's chin, bringing it up so he can look into Mark's eyes. "You're just… you're a little bit perfect, you know?" Lucas says, a broad grin playing on his lips, and Mark flushes, unable to stop the answering smile from unfolding on his own face.

"You're a little bit perfect, too," he says, relaxing into Lucas's touch and bringing his own arms around Lucas to hug him back. Lucas swipes his thumb across Mark's cheek, tender.

"I think I knew deep down inside what I wanted, but I needed some time to think about it. That's why I went away for a bit. If it had just been a one-off for you or a mistake…"

"It's not, it's definitely not," Mark says. His hands tighten in the folds of Lucas's coat and Lucas lets out a huff of laughter.

They're still smiling goofily at each other when Mark feels an insistent tugging at his wrist.

"What — oh, Lucas!"

"Yes?" Lucas answers, indulgent and amused.

"No, not… not you. The puppy, his name is Lucas," Mark clarifies, face hot with embarrassment.

Lucas's eyebrows fly up with surprise. "Like me?" Puppy Lucas barks back as if in confirmation and Mark can only nod. Lucas clears his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I'd really like to kiss you again," he says, voice low and laced with heat. This time, Mark reels him in, mouth open and ready.

🐾🐾🐾

Later, when they're back in Mark's room and snuggled up on his bed with puppy Lucas curled up next to them, Lucas tells Mark about how he had gone camping with Yuta to "work through his feelings."

"He was, like, my guide," explains Lucas. "Physically and spiritually. Did you know that he's gone hiking through all the trails out here? He's like one of those pointy-eared dudes in that movie about those little dudes carrying a ring, he _knows_ the trees and shit." Mark hums in vague assent, patting Lucas's thigh. He hadn't known that about Yuta (he's never been camping in his entire life), but it's hard not to just say yes to Lucas all the time. "He told me to kiss you the next time I saw you," Lucas adds, the tips of his ears turning red.

Looking at Lucas's glowing face, Mark feels a surge of boldness. He straightens up to face Lucas directly. "Thanks for giving it another a chance." Puppy Lucas blinks as the mattress moves beneath him and then settles back into place by Mark's thigh when he determines that there is no threat of the earth shifting and disrupting his nap further.

"No way, thanks for giving me another chance," Lucas says, burying his face into Mark's neck. Mark giggles at the tickle of Lucas's breath against his sensitive skin.

"Wait, wait, I need to —" Mark lifts Lucas's head up. Lucas makes a questioning noise, cheeks pressed between Mark's hands as Mark takes a deep breath. "I really, really like you." Each word sends an excruciating wave of embarrassment over his body, but Mark holds steady. He wants to do this properly. The worst thing about Lucas's disappearance had been the fear that Mark had messed things up between them without even getting a chance to try. Now that he knows how Lucas feels, he wants to make sure Lucas knows, too. It's still scary for Mark, but this — being able to capture the warmth and softness radiating from Lucas's hands and bright smile and to call it his own — is worth it. Lucas is worth it, to be brave. "I've liked you for a long time."

Their next kisses are sweet and tender, Mark's hands gently threading through Lucas's hair as they sigh into each other until Lucas has to break away for a groaning yawn.

"Tired?" Mark pushes Lucas's bangs up from his forehead and looks into his bloodshot eyes with worry.

"Kind of," Lucas admits sheepishly. "I didn't get a lot of sleep on the trails."

Mark slides off Lucas and tugs Lucas down until his head is resting on Mark's shoulder. He feels a little thrill at how easily Lucas lets himself be moved, eyes closing, trusting. Puppy Lucas adjusts as well, back leg twitching against the sheets as he snuffles in his sleep, chasing dream sheep.

Sandwiched between the two sleeping Lucases, Mark checks his phone in the meantime, making sure that he hasn't missed any important emails from his professors. There are a couple of missed calls and texts from Lucas, which makes Mark's insides twist up. He almost can't believe that Lucas is here, next to him. He burrows in closer and Lucas's arm tightens around his waist.

He tries to ignore it but Donghyuck is, if nothing else, persistent.

"Dude, why haven't you been picking up?" There's the sound of heavy bass reverberating in the background and indistinct shouting under Mariah Carey's dulcet tones. "Lucas is missing again!"

Mark smiles down at the two fluffy brown heads lying on either side of him. "He's okay. Both Lucases are fine," he says, his vision turning soft and blurry at the edges.

"Why are you whispering?" Donghyuck asks as loud as ever. "Also, how do you know that? Why do you know that?"

"Um, sorry, gotta go," Mark says unconvincingly.

"Mark! _Mark_! Are you with Lucas? Did the kiss work? Mark!"

Mark hangs up, tossing his phone to the corner of his bed. Lucas's eyes peek open and Mark thinks about kissing Lucas for a brief, hot moment before realizing, giddily, that he absolutely can now.

"Wow," Lucas says a second later, voice still raspy with sleep. "I could get used to waking up like this."

"If you go back to sleep, you'll get to," Mark says, lips tingling. Lucas raises his eyebrows and Mark stifles a scandalized burst of laughter, hitting Lucas's shoulder. "Not in front of Lucas!"

"I got it, I got it!" Lucas says, raising his hands up for mercy. Eyes squeezing shut, he flops down again, pretending to sleep. He looks like a little kid — a very big little kid with large hands that settle perfectly on Mark's hips.

"Well," Mark amends. "Maybe just a little bit." Lucas's grin turns wolfish as he pulls Mark down onto the sheets.

🐾🐾🐾

"Yeah, I'm just picking up human Lucas now and then we're heading over," Mark says into his phone as he jogs down the hallway of the Film Studies Center to the conference room where Lucas's last class of the day is. Ten makes an approving noise from the other end of the line and Mark passes on a quick, "See you soon!"

With everyone back on campus after winter break, Ten and Taeyong are hosting a party before classes ramp up again and the interminable cycle of midterms begins. Puppy Lucas had also gone to live with Taeyong before Mark had left for home for the holidays. As cute as puppy Lucas is, Mark feels better knowing that Lucas has found a better dog parent than Mark, someone who actually knew what he was doing when it came to setting up vet visits and making sure puppy Lucas had enough space to romp around in than Mark's cramped single. That doesn't mean that Mark hasn't bought more dog toys during vacation though, in between Skype dates with Lucas and family dinners where Mark ate far too much of his mom's home cooking. Mark has the little tiger plush that he found online with Lucas's help tucked in his backpack. It's the same shade of burnt orange as his sweater which puppy Lucas likes. 

Lucas is already waiting outside of the room for Mark. "Ready to go?" Mark asks. Lucas just looks at him in silence with a wounded expression on his face. "What? What's wrong?"

"You just — _human Lucas_?"

"Um." Mark ducks his head guiltily. He hadn't realized his voice had carried so far in the empty corridor. "It just sort of slipped out?

"I let it go when I heard Guanheng saying it, even though I've known him first—"

"Lucas," Mark says.

"—but I'm your boyfriend," Lucas continues, pouting.

"Lucas," Mark repeats.

"And it's not fair… Oh." Lucas's mouth snaps shut as Mark takes a quick peek around the hallway before going up on his toes to plant a swift kiss against the corner of Lucas's mouth.

"You're my absolute number one Lucas," Mark says, resolutely ignoring the heat rising to his cheeks. Lucas looks shell-shocked, hand rising to his face.

"C'mon, dude, let's go, we're gonna be late." Mark turns to leave before he can say or do anything more in this hallway that has already seen too much of his shame, but Lucas catches him.

"You're my absolute number one, too, Mark," he says, eyes shining. What isn't fair is how Lucas can just _say_ these things, Mark thinks, but he finds that he really doesn't mind when Lucas reaches up to caress Mark's jaw, the tips of his long fingers slipping under the collar of Mark's sweater. "Let's go see Lucas?" Mark nods, pressing his cheek into Lucas's palm before he reaches up to lace their fingers together.

When they get to the party, Johnny is still looping his homemade remix of Christmas pop songs, but Mark can't bring himself to care about the dubstep transition between Michael Bublé and Ariana Grandé. He's gotten more than he could have ever wanted this year, two Lucases where he never would have even dreamed of one.

"Please," Donghyuck whines after the third time that 'All I Want for Christmas is You' comes up. "Make it stop." He flops dramatically onto the couch next to puppy Lucas who is curled up halfway on Mark's lap to play with his new toy.

"I don't know…" Mark glances up at Lucas. "It's kind of not that bad?"

"Babe," Lucas says, stretching his arm out over the back of the couch, behind Mark's neck. "It kind of is." Donghyuck snickers until Lucas reflects on it further. "It is also kind of our song though?" His gaze turns molten and hot, like dark chocolate, and Mark shivers despite how high Ten usually keeps the heat in his apartment. Donghyuck's face twists with disgust.

"Did he just call me a poser?" Lucas asks when Donghyuck flounces off, taking puppy Lucas into his arms to give Mark's thighs a reprieve from puppy Lucas's growing weight.

"You're real to me," Mark reassures him as he scritches behind puppy Lucas's ears and leans in. "My number one."

This time, their Mariah Carey Christmas kiss is accompanied by puppy Lucas barking to the rhythm of bass-boosted sleigh bells and Mark wouldn't have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> have yourself a merry mark lee's birthday~ here is my musical gift to all of [you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYsxcVU2C0s) ;;;
> 
> thanks to everyone who helped hold my hand with this one ;;;;


End file.
